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Dead Drop June 10

Dead Drop June 10

DON’T THEY KNOW THERE ARE RECORDINGS?  About a month ago, The Dead Drop pointed out a slip of the lip made at a Josh Earnest White House press briefing where the Obama spox (that’s inside the beltway speak for spokesperson, BTW) was asked by Kevin Corke of Fox News, “Can you state categorically that no senior official in this administration has ever lied publicly about any aspect of the Iran nuclear deal?” Josh replied earnestly, “No, Kevin,” by which we are sure he meant: “Yes, Kevin.” This weekend we learned that the White House transcript from that briefing omits the words, “No, Kevin.”  The official excuse is that that part of the exchange was inaudible – and they said they have no plans to fix the transcript. This revelation comes on the heels of the State Department’s Rosemary Woods-ing an 8-minute exchange in one of their briefings. Earnest said on Monday that it was “not fair” to compare the two incidents. Do both matters make the administration communication teams look bad?  “No, Kevin,” by which we mean, “Yes.”

SPEAKING OF RECORDINGS: Tuesday was kind of a mixed bag for retired General and former CIA Director David Petraeus.  On the plus side – it was reported that day that Senator Mark Kirk (R, IL) plans to write in the General’s name on November’s presidential ballot.  OK, it is just one vote – but how many sitting Senators have endorsed YOU for President?  But on the downside – Politico reported that an affidavit unsealed on Tuesday reveals the FBI had “two audio recordings in which the retired four-star Army general briefed reporters about matters authorities believed were top secret.”  The FBI found the recordings during its investigation of whether Petraeus provided his biographer, Paula Broadwell, with classified information.  Petraeus has already been sentenced on misdemeanor charges for less-than-sterling handling of classified info in the Broadwell case, so the latest information will have no practical impact on him.  It might be used by Hillary Clinton supporters, however, to draw a bigger distinction between her email woes and Petraeus’s past troubles.

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